Vehicles 2

I think I must still be on vacation -- I'm coming up with the most off topic stories this week -- though that really was the idea -- that through the varied nature of all of this I might find some sort of larger information...

Monday, one group of writers settled their part of the writers strike out in LA. The AP reports this morning:

The United Artists deal could begin to drive a wedge between the producers alliance and independent production companies that want to get their writers back on the job, said Daniel J.B. Mitchell, a professor of management and public policy at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Other companies could follow United Artists' lead and reach side deals with the guild to continue production while the strike endures, then sign on for whatever terms the alliance eventually reaches with writers, Mitchell said.

But here's what interests me:

''It's the same kind of problem as, let's say, OPEC. You have a group of people that has a common interest in having a common front, where they want to keep oil prices up,'' Mitchell said. ''There's always somebody who says, `You guys keep oil prices up, and I'll sell more than my quota. You do the heavy lifting, and I'll just reap the reward.'''

I'm very interested in how language and ideas travel around the country. Trends of language build in the public arena -- the media and the lexicon of now; that momentum quickly translates into awareness and power.

A metaphor is a vehicle of understanding -- and in order to employ one, not only does understanding and history have to come from its source, but it has to translate instantly into depth for the audience.

It's the same kind of problem as, let's say, Opec...

As if to imply the public is more aware of the situation in the middle east than the situation in Hollywood. I think it's amazing that the oil industry is being used as a metaphor for the entertainment industry.